MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Pat Coleman:  Can I ask, when you ask questions in that way are you angry at or frustrated with posters?  MY conspiracy theory is that you are capable of drawing a hapless poster into a debate he can't win and then trouncing him off the site.  Does that happen ever?

People who grind an ax over and over sometimes elicit that reaction.

WW is hardly hapless, just incapable of letting a couple issues go, no matter how misguided. If someone is hapless enough to deserve to be banned from the site, there are plenty of other people for that person to argue with.

[concordia of the north]

far be it for me to accuse Willy, champion of the miac board, of haplessness.

[Willy Wonka]

CNorth - Quit sucking up. You're still a dirty player 

Drake - Does it make for good message board fodder? Of course. Is it newsworthy? Clearly. Is it a surprise? Not one bit.

That's the only point I'm trying to make. Hopefully that's succinct enough for you

Pat - Can you really use ax singular in my case?

I posted the multiple abuses of Mr. Sieger over the past year toward the end of the last season. The preview of the CC/Olaf game was flat out embarrassing for one in his position. As a coach of either team, I'd have cringed having my name associated with that piece. In fact, I know many -- involved and not -- who *DID* cringe.

However, far be it for me to accuse one of Pat's former voters for the Top 25, among other awards, of being incapable of disassociating themselves from their school loyalties as the job description requires

FYI: His promotion is worthy of your shock, Drake. To steal a phrase the great Sir Charles and Kenny Smith...Jim Cella and Tim Kennedy are rolling over in their graves right now.

[localcoach]

I must also concur that I think Barry leaving Hamline is quite newsworthy for a number of reasons. 

First, he's basically a Minnesota legend and there aren't too many places you can go, except maybe north country, where people don't know who he is.  When he first got to Hamline his hiring brought a lot of excitement to that community and the MIAC.  On top of that he assembled a very good coaching staff with Dan Perrel (MIAC experience) and Jeremy Tiers (recruiting expertise).  As noted by Drake and others, he took a dismal Piper program and turned it around in a hurry.  His style of play was completely different from all others in the MIAC and as a staff they were able to bring in some pretty talented recruits.

Last summer it all changed.  With Perrel and Tiers both leaving late in the summer it put Barry in a tough spot.  Luckily he was able to find a pair of quality replacements in Coach Larson and Coach Rusthoven.  Still I think any time you have turnover on a staff it affects the players.  Perrel and Tiers were, from what I've been told, the guys that a lot of the players talked to when they had issues.  Now you bring in two new assistants who none of the players know at all and you throw in players who just couldn't get their academic behinds in gear and another in Kyle Foster who just consistently let his emotions get the best of him.  Ultimately why they underachieved this year remains a mystery but I think the above listed reasons along with other things that only those inside the program know about, all were key components.

The bottom line is that's a lot to manage for any head coach, let alone someone like Coach Wohler, who lest we forget didn't have any college experience when he took over at Hamline.  Having coached at both levels I can tell you that no matter how knowledgeable about the game you are or how good a player you were it's a major jump from high school to college, be it MIAC, NSIC, or Big 10.  (Side note - That's not an attack against Barry before anyone jumps on me, that's just a general statement)  To be successful in the college ranks as a head coach the majority of your time is not spent on the court but rather doing administrative tasks, things in the community and recruiting.  That's what separates the winners from the losers.  If you don't have good players, or you can't raise money, etc. you can't win, at least not consistently. 

My final comment is this.  As stated once again by Woody, "I just don't think Hamline's SENIOR administration is very committed to the excellence in athletics. O'Brien apparently is, but he doesn't seem to be getting much support."  A truer statement could not be said.  I think O'Brien has to make some changes himself, but the bottom line is President Hanson, (et. all) has to make a commitment to athletics and that apparently doesn't appear to be coming any time soon.

Sumander, I don't know who the next Piper coach will be.  From what I have heard many, including O'Brien are strongly looking at Brady Larson.  I think it will either be him OR Coach Rusthoven, who I believe applied for the job and was runner up to Barry the last time OR someone from out of state who none of us know.  It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

Whew.....that was a long one 

[columbianmaffia]

im digging this madness all over the place

[Pat Coleman]

I was giving you credit for letting one go. That's how your karma got above minus-40, too, no doubt.

[columbianmaffia]

dont know if this has been posted yet or not

http://www.marshallindependent.com/Sports/articles.asp?articleID=13814

[Willy Wonka]

Is it just me, or has this Wohler situation Transformed (c'mon, I had to...) into Keating 2.0?

I've simply argued that this was hardly a surprise move, yet Drake and Loco insist on posting and reposting telling me how newsworthy the situation is. Uhh...duh? That doesn't make it a surprise.

Two years ago, I made the argument that Keating was a clear and utter disappointment/failure for all the preseason MVP-type hype he received only to have Drake and Mr. Sager jump down my throat for denigrating the value of role players.

Armed with that knowledge, I'm going to try an experiment with the following statement: 9-day vacations are fun. I can't wait to see how you fellas pervert that claim


To switch gears, the Marshall paper seems to substantiate the claim that Wohler's move was made, at least partly, for monetary reasons. Interesting.

[Drake Palmer]

OK, as we (Willy "Last Word" Wonka) beat the last, living breath of air out of this dying carcass of a topic,    yes, in your words "let's switch gears" - gradually.   (smirk  )

This article you referenced from the Marshall paper.  Now there's an example of poor reporting. I'm just glad to know that most reporters that post on this board do a better job of getting their facts straight & typos cleaned up before going live with an article. 

And why do I get the feeling this Marshall reporter is someone's paid shill, cough, cough –Wohler. Reminds me of the same type of sycophantic, kiss up type of relationship good ol' Uncle Sid of the Trib has with one of his thousands of "closest friends" such as Bobby Knight or George Steinbrenner. Here's the article in it's entirety - Marshall article

I've excerpted some examples from the article & bolded the corrections:

"They had (Mike) Lure, (Its JON LEUER, Mike is the father, & note the correct spelling of the last name: LEUER, not Lure)  who is going to Wisconsin," Wohler said. "He was 6-foot-10. They had another 6-foot-5 kid. It may take a few years to build the program. They had a nice team last year."....

The past three years when Wohler coached at Hamline, which is lcoated (located) in St. Paul, his son, Brady, enrolled in the Mounds View school district. Brady will be an eighth-grader this year....

At Hamline, the Pipers compiled 14-11, 11-15 and 10-17 records during Wohler's coaching stint. (Lets' try 10-15, 12-15, & 8-17)

Hamline hadn't had a winning record for 11 years prior to Wohler's arrival....

Hamline also lost one of its leading scorers, John (Jon) Derock (DeRock) of Buffalo Lake-Hector, following the 2007 season.

The freshman (sophomore) shooting guard, who averaged nearly 15 points a game, has transferrered (transferred) to Southwest Minnesota State....

************************
All these errors in one article, causes me to question the validity of the rest of his story.
****************
Carleton:   Personally, I enjoyed those cheeky, game day previews the Carlie SID used to write the last couple of years.

[piperinsider]

FYI: Wayne Cook (Cookie) is like 60/65 years-old. He's a great guy, but yeah, he's not the strongest reporter or umpire.

Word around Canterbury today (ran into three ex-Pipers) is that Coach Larson might be the leading candidate for the upcmoing season. In the words of one player, the same problem Wohler had with players, Larson will have. I guess they are very similar in coaching style/behavior.

[PTPer35]

Cookie is a fantastic nickname....

[sumander]

FYI: Wayne Cook (Cookie) is like 60/65 years-old. He's a great guy, but yeah, he's not the strongest reporter or umpire.

Word around Canterbury today (ran into three ex-Pipers) is that Coach Larson might be the leading candidate for the upcmoing season. In the words of one player, the same problem Wohler had with players, Larson will have. I guess they are very similar in coaching style/behavior.

Bigger question is, are there going to be any players left??

[piperinsider]

That is the big question. With DeRock, Foster and Weiner gone, the only true starter is Tony Thrasher. Good luck piecing together the next four.

[Woody]

They've got the big 6-10 kid in the post....sophomore this year, I think. Suppose to have a good attitude and is a hard worker.....that's a good place to start. Not everyone has a 6-10 post player (in the MIAC).

[sumander]

Speaking of big post players can anyone confirm the rumor I heard that Peter Rolando will not be returning to Bethel this fall. Rolando did a nice job of filling in for Moberg last year.